StockNews.com Lowers Amedisys (NASDAQ:AMED) to Hold

Amedisys (NASDAQ:AMED) was downgraded by investment analysts at StockNews.com from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Friday.

Several other analysts also recently issued reports on AMED. Raymond James reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Amedisys in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Amedisys from $97.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, March 25th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $101.00 price target on shares of Amedisys in a research report on Thursday. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $97.50.

Amedisys Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ:AMED traded up $0.63 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $91.79. The company had a trading volume of 144,548 shares, compared to its average volume of 276,231. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $92.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $93.35. Amedisys has a one year low of $73.10 and a one year high of $96.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.32, a current ratio of 1.05 and a quick ratio of 1.05. The company has a market capitalization of $3.00 billion, a PE ratio of -143.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.28 and a beta of 0.86.

Amedisys (NASDAQ:AMED) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 24th. The health services provider reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.02 by $0.01. Amedisys had a negative net margin of 0.91% and a positive return on equity of 13.00%. The business had revenue of $571.41 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $565.38 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.00 EPS. Amedisys’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Amedisys will post 4.54 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amedisys

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Amedisys by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 3,241,160 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $302,724,000 after purchasing an additional 12,137 shares during the period. Alpine Associates Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Amedisys by 23.0% during the 4th quarter. Alpine Associates Management Inc. now owns 1,271,097 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $120,830,000 after purchasing an additional 237,600 shares during the period. Pentwater Capital Management LP raised its stake in shares of Amedisys by 239.5% during the 3rd quarter. Pentwater Capital Management LP now owns 1,144,000 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $106,850,000 after purchasing an additional 807,000 shares during the period. Westchester Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Amedisys by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Westchester Capital Management LLC now owns 879,402 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $83,596,000 after purchasing an additional 29,016 shares during the period. Finally, Park West Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Amedisys by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Park West Asset Management LLC now owns 812,069 shares of the health services provider’s stock worth $77,195,000 after purchasing an additional 60,350 shares during the period. 94.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Amedisys Company Profile

Amedisys, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides healthcare services in the United States. It operates through three segments: Home Health, Hospice, and High Acuity Care. The Home Health segment offers a range of services in the homes of individuals for the recovery of patients from surgery, chronic disability, or terminal illness, as well as prevents avoidable hospital readmissions through its skilled nurses; nursing services, rehabilitation therapists specialized in physical, speech, and occupational therapy; and social workers and aides for assisting its patients.